Film crew targeted

A camera crew including News Limited columnist Joe Hildebrand say they were attacked while filming a documentary on the banks of the dry Todd River bed in Alice Springs.

The crew were allegedly chased back to their hotel where they say they asked hotel staff to lock the doors.

The Cordell Jigsaw camera crew were in Alice Springs filming a documentary for ABC2 called Dumb, Drunk and Racist, which follows four Indian citizens as they visit locations around Australia to get an outsiders perspective on race issues.

The documentary presenter, Joe Hildebrand, says the alleged attack took place when the crew stopped on the path by the river to film a piece to camera.

He says they were approached by an Indigenous woman who made it clear she wasn't happy with the filming.

He says the group then crossed the road and continued filming before being approached again, this time by two Indigenous women who were yelling and interjecting.

"We decided to get the hell out of there and run into the hotel and get out of the way."

Mr Hildebrand says the attack was unprovoked.

"We made no effort to approach them, we didn't film them, we weren't even aware of their presence until they came up to where we were filming and started shouting and harassing us."

The General Manager at the Aurora Hotel where the crew took refuge, Ron Thynne, says he is very upset that his staff became tangled up in the incident.

Mr Thynne says he is also concerned that it took police over 30 minutes to respond to their calls for help.

Acting Superintendent Michael Potts says initially the incident was not a priority when they were first notified at 6.40pm,

"The information that we had initially was that we were dealing with a general disturbance and criminal damage at the Aurora Hotel.

Acting Superintendent Potts denies there is a resourcing problem at the Alice Police Station,

"No matter whether in Alice Springs or elsewhere in Australia, there will be times that require police response, this is just one of those occasions where unfortunately we did require units to attend, but they were committed elsewhere and we did attend as soon as we could release our units."

Police say they are reviewing CCTV footage from the hotel and in the CBD.